Road to Home
by MotatoPotato
Summary: SJ. Vignette 9. star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...


**Title: **Road to Home

**Author: **MotatoPotato

**Spoilers: **Threads

**Season: ** 9-10

**Warnings: **SJ Ship. Companion to _"Uh Oh Patio." _Some language.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Sadly. I only twist what is there.

**Notes: **This is the Ninth in a series of same universe unrelated vignettes.

Please tell me what you think...it's how I improve. Enjoy!

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Daniel pulled his car up in front of Jack and Sam's Colorado home. He was early, unusual for Daniel, to see if he could help set up for the barbecue. To be honest with himself he'd come alone deliberately. Jack had sounded a bit rough the past few times he had spoken to him and he wanted a chance to talk to him quietly before the gang arrived.

He was a little worried about Sam too. She was the same old Sam, but there was a tension about her that hadn't been before. He'd also caught her staring off at nothing, a sad look in her eye more times than he could count. She always snapped out of it and smiled when she saw him. Didn't change the fact that it was there though.

Teal'c had been more than a little unhappy about his plans. He was obviously dubious about being driven here by Cam. With an arched eyebrow he had said firmly "DanielJackson. I do not believe this is the wisest endeavor."

Daniel kept a straight face, knowing from experience Cam Mitchell drove like a coked up bat out of hell. "Teal'c, you've faced down some of the worst evils in the galaxy. You have nothing to worry about."

Teal'c looked decidedly unconvinced. Daniel slid his eyes away to the side and then back at him. "I'll see you later, T." He felt the Jaffa's glare all the way to the parking lot.

Daniel reached the front door, without bothering with a knock he reached for the doorknob, only to find it locked. He was about to raise his fist to the door when he heard a peal of laughter ringing from around the house.

As he rounded the corner he froze in the shadow, thinking he should look away from them but unable to do so. Jack looked like he'd been dunked in a pool, dripping from head to toe. He was straddling Sam's stomach, holding his sopping shirt over her head, wringing it out slowly. Daniel was astonished. She was squealing childishly as the apparently cold water struck her.

Jack tossed the shirt to the side only to shake his dripping hair at her like a puppy. She twisted frantically, unsuccessfully trying to get out of the over head hold Jack had on her hands. Jack had a wolfish grin plastered on his face while Sam looked up at Jack with a mock-horrified look that contradicted the delighted laughter and howls.

He'd only seen that kind of play once from his friends. His heart warmed, a smile spreading of his own. Daniel hardly ever saw them together anymore. He had a pretty good idea what was wrong with them respectively.

They weren't together all the time.

He was dragged to reality when he heard a teasing voice. "Danny, quit lurkin' in the shadows and get your ass out here!"

He smiled at Jack as he stepped forward. "Funny."

They all began setting up food and plates and generally enjoying each other's company. The only thing missing was Teal'c, which Daniel refused to think about. An unhappy Jaffa was a scary Jaffa.

He looked up again to see the two going about the chores together with ease and anticipation of the other's next move, like they did in the field. They weren't speaking, at least not aloud. He did see smiles and expressive glances being thrown out there. His own grin rivaled theirs.

Daniel leaned against the side of the house for a moment lost in thought, barely noticing when the playful swating began again. When was it that things shifted towards this end for them? He tried to remember.

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_Daniel stood uncomfortably with a flag wrapped around his otherwise very naked body. Bra'tac was giving him a look he didn't even want to begin to interpret. He saw Jack slouch back into his chair. With his fingers brushing Sam's hand._

_//Oh my god. With his fingers brushing Sam's.//_

_Daniel for the first time noticed the others were sitting at the other end of the table. But Jack and Sam sat side by side, unusually close._

_//Huh. This is…different…//_

_XXXXXXXXXXXXX_

_He watched as Jack stood and walked to the podium gravely. The other speakers had been rather mediocre, and not doing Jacob nearly the service he deserved. Daniel had been terribly saddened when he learned of Jacob's sacrifice._

_Jack delivered. He had people laughing through their tears as he shared everything he felt and some of the experiences he'd had with the man he'd come to respect and even love. _

_Daniel stole a look over at Sam who looked devastated yet dry-eyed, but she as well was laughing through her pain. At that moment he saw such a look of sheer, pure, unadulterated love on her face, a look that knocked the air from his lungs._

_He knew there was something deep between them. It was at that moment he truly knew the depth. He had been very surprised to come back to not only Jacob's death but also to find that Sam had broken off her engagement. He had been sad for herin both regards, but he also knew that while she might be content with Pete she wouldn't have been happy._

_Later when the four of them were alone at the graveside, he watched his two friends stand together. Jack brushing her shoulder with his when she started to shake and then cry. Something she couldn't have done with an audience. Outside her family of course. She sagged onto him, and he held her up. Daniel thought it was deeply symbolic._

_The fact that Sam Carter hated to be out of control herself made the act all the more meaningful. She chose Jack in her moment of overwhelming grief, because she trusted him enough to know he would never think her weak._

_It was then Daniel saw the same look he'd seen in Sam's blue gaze in Jack's deep brown eyes as he looked down at her._

_Wow._

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_Daniel walked into Jack's office. "I hear you were offered a promotion."_

_"Yeah. Another star and an office at the Pentagon as Head of Homeworld Security."_

_"So...?"_

_"So?"_

_"Jack."_

_"Daniel."_

_"Cut it out!"_

_"I'm hungry."_

_"Are you gonna take it?"_

_"I might. Who knows who'll take control of this place if I don't?At least I can still watch your backs from there. If I leave a General Landry will be posted here. He's a good man. We need our bases covered by people all things unkinsey-like." He looked around thoughtfully. "I think I'll paint my new place peridot."_

_Daniel looked stunned and patient at the same time. "I don't think I've ever heard you speak that much all at once."_

_Jack gave him a dirty look. "I'll miss it, though."_

_Daniel nodded slowly. "Teal'c has decided to go help set up the Jaffa Council. Sam's left yesterday for the R&D and I'm going to Atlantis. Seems fitting that we all leave at once."_

_Jack looked at his desktop silently._

_"Oh fer cryin' out loud, Daniel."_

_Daniel smiled. He would miss Jack and the others terribly. They were family. "What about Sam?"_

_Jack's face went carefully blank. "What about her?"_

_Daniel gave him a hard stare._

_Jack began to mutter mutinously under his breath._

_"Jack don't bullshit me." Jack suddenly stood and quickly headed for the door. "Jack get back here!! Where are you…damn you, you stubborn son of a bitch! Argh!" He grit his teeth and closed his eyes._

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Jack strolled over to talk to Daniel. "Good to see you, Danny."

Daniel smiled at the affectionate nickname, one he would kill anyone else for using.

"Whatcha doin'?

"Just thinking."

Jack rolled his eyes dramatically. "Tell me somethin' I don't know."

Daniel smiled. "Wondering what happened exactly when you ran out of the office."

Jack looked surprised. Daniel watched fascinated as Jack went somewhere else, his eyes cloudy and distracted.

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_Jack ran for the elevator punching the button repeatedly, pulling out his phone to call the airfield. He was on a mission and nothing would stop him. If all went well he'd be at Nellis by 0100 hours._

_He flew off the plane and into the car he'd arranged for. He got lost promptly, frustrating him to no end. He finally navigated himself, after much impressive swearing and smacking of the dashboard, to her apartment._

_He started pounding on her door, heedless of the hour. He stood unflinching as the door was yanked open. "What do you want?! Do you know what ti…" She froze as she saw him. He dragged his eyes up her body, drinking her in. He looked up, suddenly a bit sheepish as he realized what time it was._

_"Sir! What on earth…" _

_It was the Sir that urged him into action. He strode towards her backing Sam into a wall, leaning flush against her. He felt a ripple move throughout her body. They stared into the burning eyes of the other. If looks could melt, they'd be happy little puddles._

_His lips claimed hers hungrily, waves of heat and longing rolling from head to toe. He drew back gasping, caressing her face._

_He'd better go and catch his plane. Mission accomplished. "Got another plane to catch. Just needed you to know."_

_He felt her hand roughly clamp on his wrist, effectively halting his flight._

_"Stay."_

_He was lost._

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_The next morning he awoke in an empty bed, happier than he'd been since Charlie. Wow. He was surprised he was even capable of any comprehensible thought after last night. Holy Hannah. _

_He wandered out to the kitchen, and found a little note._

_"Come in to the office at 1300. Lunch in the commissary. Don't go. Love, Carter."_

_Jack didn't know what hit him. He knew he loved her. More than he thought he was capable of loving. He didn't know how to make her see. He never could express feelings well, unless he could show instead of speak._

_He sighed._

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_Later he was sitting in the commissary, ignoring the awed stares he and Carter were getting. Suddenly he dropped his spoonful of Jell-O with a clatter._

_Sam looked up worriedly. "Jack?" She whispered tentatively._

_He looked her in the eye. "Vegas."_

_She looked confused. "What?"_

_He shook his head trying to say what he wanted. "Vegas. Let's go to Vegas."_

_She was lost. "Huh?"_

_Jack sighed. "Let's get married."_

_Her jaw dropped to the table. "Wh…"_

_He took a deep breath and held her gaze. "Right now, for the next two weeks, we aren't in the same chain." His eyes begged her to see the love and sincerity in them._

_She searched him for what seemed like hours. When her lips curved his heart soared. "Tonight." he said huskily._

_She nodded. "I'll take the time off." The she stood and grabbed his tie and yanked him across the table to give him the most emotionally charged kiss of his life, leaving him totally stupefied. He got to kiss Carter. Sweet!_

_He pulled back abruptly. "Wait here.." Sam watched him curiously as he ran out of the room. When he returned moments later, Jack pulled a paper clip from his pocket and began fussing with it. Suddenly she gasped as he took her hand and slid it on like a ring. "I'll get you a nicer one when we get the wedding bands." His eyes twinkled while she held back the prickling tears._

_"No. I want this one." Their eyes locked._

_The commissary exploded into chaos._

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_They strolled out of the courthouse and Jack, overcoming the years of conditioning, wrapped his arm around her waist and breathed in her hair. She was his wife. Holy buckets she was his wife!_

_She was shocked at his tentative and rather huge (in Jack's case, anyway) public display of affection. She felt him relax as she slipped her arm under his jacket and around his waist. She leaned in to his warmth, and closing her eyes, breathed him in. Her husband. The man she'd loved so hard for so long._

_She wasn't naïve. She knew it would be hard. A long distance marriage. But they had been through so much already she figured they'd deal with the challenges as they came. Just as it had been for the last eight years. _

_They'd always been great on the phone._

_Maybe they hadn't been apart physically, but in their years as SG-1 they had put a distance between themselves out of necessity. Their love had survived. It would survive this._

_Sam snuggled into Jack. She looked up and he drowned in her big blue eyes. "I love you so much it hurts."_

_He gave her a soft look she'd never seen before. "I can't remember ever not."_

_He paused thoughtfully. "And no more clichés. I detest and abhor clichés."_

_Sam laugh joyously as they strolled on in silence, content to know they'd have each other's sixes for the rest of their lives._

_She looked subdued a moment. "Now how do we break it to Cassie and the guys that we did this without them?"_

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"Earth to Jack! Hello?"

He snapped back to the present with a thud to see Daniel, Sam, Teal'c, Cam and Vala looking at him oddly. "Funny, Danny."

"Uh, Hi guys." He caught sight of Teal'c who looked thunderous. "What's up, T?"

"I will never occupy a vehicle in which CameronMitchell pilots. He is a menace, O'Neill."

He noticed Daniel had gulped and stepped away quickly. Jack started to chuckle and patted Teal'c's arm.

Then he zeroed in on his wife, who was snagging the last Guinness. "OH NO YOU DON'T!!!!!!!!!" Everyone froze as he vaulted towards her. To everyone's amazement she shrieked and ran, leaping over obstacles and ducking between them.

It was fucking hilarious really. He finally tackled her, making sure he took the brunt of the fall. Neither noticed that the bottle had broken, nor that the others had gone inside.

God he loved her.

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The four sat in the living room stunned. Holy shit, they did not just see the head of Homeworld Security chase the most brilliant mind in the country like a little frolicking child!

Daniel started first, followed by Teal'c's deep rumbling until they were all crying with mirth.

Daniel stretched back on the couch and watched Jack pull Sam up and brush her off playfully. Yes this was right. How he had known deep down they were meant to be. That Jack and Sam were comfortable enough with them to let it loose was a huge testament to the strength of trust.

At last.

He watched Jack kiss her gently, then said something that made Sam pull a face. Daniel stood, walking to the mantel to examine a beautiful little ceramic box. It was next the the 'wedding' photo taken at the small get toether Daniel and Teal'c had thrown. He lifted the lid curiously to see a little bent up paper clip circlet. He scrunched up his face in confusion.

Then heard another yelp from outside.

Daniel smiled at the rest of the group, still chuckling to themselves. Jack O'Neill, hardass General was tickling his wife, the brilliant scientist. He was happy for them and sort of understood their need for complete openess and release with each other.

//But come on! Holy SHIT!//


End file.
